Dallas attorney Jamey Newberg has been covering the Texas Rangers, from the big club down through the entire farm system, since 1998. His website can be found at www.newbergreport.com.

THE NEWBERG REPORT — JANUARY 13, 2008

Our dog just unleashed an extremely discourteous emission. I now know Pocus is a Cowboys fan.

I sent an email to a friend last night, finishing with this:

“DAL 21, NYG 17. Big day for MBIII.”

I nailed it. That is, other than a little sequencing problem in the first sentence. Good stinkin’ grief.

I’ve deleted six paragraphs about that game, mainly because you don’t care about what I think about football. Comments about a couple overmatched offensive lineman, about a fringy trash-talking receiver who was awful, about an unbelievably bad day by the special teams, about the most overrated defensive back in the league (who filled the box score with one tackle), about how the Giants were clearly better in the trenches in the second half when the first-half time of possession should have dictated the opposite.

That loss had nothing to do with Cabo, and nothing to do with T.O.’s health. MBIII was great for most of the day, but – suddenly installed as the starter (reminiscent of the Mavericks against Golden State, where the favorite decided it needed to shake things up instead sticking with what dominated all year) – he didn’t have as much left in the second half as he normally does. But that wasn’t to blame for this one, either.

We simply got spanked by a better team, in our house. Pathetic.

The last few Rangers seasons have been disappointing, but I’ll take them over what the Cowboys and Mavs turned in this year. Everything those two teams accomplished this year was a complete waste. I feel stupid for letting 67-15 and 13-3 give me confidence that my team was going to come out and take care of business. The Cowboys, like the Mavs, lost in the intensity game and the execution game and the concentration game and, ultimately, on the scoreboard. There’s a lot less disappointment, at least for me, in watching a team that isn’t supposed to win show signs that it’s going to get there one day soon, than there is in seeing a team that’s supposed to win spit it up.

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